Outside The Lines (Love Beyond Reason Book 2) Read Online Free

a step back. But she merely went around him and closed the door—slammed, actually. “You don’t want this baby, fine. But I’m not getting rid of it just because you have better plans for your sorry, pathetic life.” The words were delivered on the hiss of her breath. “You can keep your bimbo wife and your flashy cars and your huge house. I’m not going to use my baby as leverage against you. You don’t want him, you don’t get him.”
    “Come on. Tammy isn’t a bimbo, and she’s not my wife, either.” Shit . This was such a cluster— “So, what you’re saying is, you’re ready to go home and forget about me?”
    Her chin rose in answer—defiance and pride.
    “Fine,” he said. Typical .
    Yet, this time, she was giving him exactly what he wanted. A free pass to a life void of the pain that came with loving someone too much.
     
    ~*~
     
    The ball shot out straight and sure, and David wailed at it with all his might.
    And missed.
    “Pansy ass,” Raphe said with a friendly grin.
    David ignored his buddy and waited for the next pitch.
    The whistle of the ball sounded downrange. He swung, just as hard as the first time, and when he cracked it, the ball went flying off to his left.
    “Foul ball. What the fuck is wrong with you today?”
    The anger boiling through his gut, burned with the acid of disappointment. Sweat dripped down his back, his muscles ached, and turning, he threw the bat as hard as he could down the cage. The clatter of metal on metal echoed off the walls of the gym.
    “Whoa.” Raphe stared, his eyes narrowing on him. “What’s into you?”
    David blew out a breath. “Remember my trip out west in October?”
    “Sure. You met that Spanish hottie.”
    “I never called her a hottie.” He scowled, wanting to swipe that grin off his friend’s face.
    Raphe nudged him aside. “My turn.”
    David stepped out of the cage, curled his hands around the fencing, and leaned in, watching and thinking. He couldn’t stop thinking. About her. About that time…
    And the disappointment, too.
    The ball came flying down the lane.
    “She’s pregnant.”
    Raphe swung, pivoting at the same time, and missed. “Shit. You’ve got to be kidding.”
    “Do I look like I’m kidding?”
    His friend pushed the button to stop the round of balls from continuing. “Fuck. She called you? How do you know it’s true? How do you even know it’s her?”
    “She’s here.”
    “Oh, man,” he said, sounding heartfelt, but then he grinned again. “When do I get to meet her?”
    David looked away. “She’s leaving.”
    “Just like that?”
    Heat rose on his neck as guilt messed with his conscience. “Well, sort of. I might have accused or implied. Implied is a better word. Implied that she was in it for my money.”
    “Oh, shit.”
    “Yeah. She was a little pissed.”
    Raphe was shaking his head in disappointment. “It’s not always about the money.”
    “You don’t even know her,” David answered, but knew his friend was right. Maria had always been strong. She’d known what she wanted. In that time and place, knowing her family, he’d wanted to be the gentleman, to wait. But one thing had led to another. He’d wanted to be a part of her life so badly. “You’re a man. Would you have said no if a woman wanted you?”
    “Well, yeah, but only because my wife would kick my ass otherwise,” he joked.
    “Haha. Before you were married. When you were still the dickhead single guy.”
    His friend shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never had your money. Women haven’t been throwing themselves at me since I was seventeen.”
    “She didn’t know I was rich.”
    “Ahh.” Like a light over his head, Raphe’s eyes turned speculative. “You think she found out.”
    David ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. I never would have guessed that she was a gold-digger.”
    “You liked her.”
    “Yes, damn it. She wasn’t some whore I picked up just for sex.”
    “But you left her, your usual